


The Right Words

by MillionDollarTeddyBear



Series: Awkward Arthur & Marvelous Merlin: A Teenage Romance [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Awkward Crush, Awkward Romance, Boys In Love, Crushes, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Romance, Sweet, Teenagers, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 07:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17421497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MillionDollarTeddyBear/pseuds/MillionDollarTeddyBear
Summary: Arthur Pendragon hasn't ever been good with words."He'd like to write sonnets about Merlin, string together words into poetic ballets, a beautiful series of syllables to show that he was deeply in love. But alas, Arthur had never been one for romance, and less one for flouncy verbals, so he was having an incredibly tough time."[Modern Day AU-High School AU-Teenagers AU]Can be read as a standstandalone work, serves as both a prequel and a mini-sequel to "Like an Opossum"





	The Right Words

_Hello Merlin,_  
  
_My name is Arthur Pendragon and I'm in love wit-_  
  
Arthur let out a loud sigh, shaking his head in dismay and his fingers curling around the sheet of paper. He crumpled up the paper he had been writing on, all the while grumbling a ton.  
  
"That's not going to _work_ , Arthur, my God, why can't you just talk to him?", he mumbled frustratedly at himself, resting his elbows on the fine mahogany of his desk. One of his hands ruffled through his hair as he worried at his lower lip, teeth sinking into pink flesh, his bright cerulean eyes on the ball of paper.  
  
His pining for Merlin Emrys, the captain of his school's acclaimed robotics team, had come to a head. He had decided to finally outright confess his undying love for the dark-haired bloke of his dreams. And, he thought, _what better way than through a romantic letter?_  
  
Right?  
  
Though, he'd never been the best with his words. Having lost out on the gift of tact, and lacking any sense of poetic lyricism, he felt at a complete loss when he had his pen in hand. The slowly growing pile of crumpled up balls of paper in the waste bin by his desk was enough evidence that he wasn't having the desired results.  
  
He'd like to write sonnets about Merlin, string together words into poetic ballets, a beautiful series of syllables to show that he was deeply in love. But alas, Arthur had never been one for romance, and less one for flouncy verbals, so he was having an incredibly tough time. Grunting and leaning back in the chair, he gruffly slammed his pen down on the surface of the desk. His blue eyes slowly shut as he breathed in and out, trying to find some poetic surge to be able to detail how much he wanted to be with Merlin.  
  
For months now he had been catching himself staring at Merlin. With a head of dark hair and a wide smile as he threw his head back in an unabashedly loud laugh, the bloke had become the object of Arthur's fantasies. The blond had noticed him a few times when they were in the halls and when they passed by one another, and he knew him because of his weird name, but it had been some months ago when he had his interest piqued.  
  
Arthur had been with his mates at their table, never even expecting what was going to happen. Leon and Percy were debating about who was the best striker of all time while Morgana stared at her boyfriend, never one for anything related to football. Gwaine and Mithian were laughing loudly at one of Elena's anecdotes about her endearingly awkward mishaps, and Lance was arriving at their usual spot by the wide windows, smiling at everyone in greeting.  
  
The blond was spearing broccoli with his fork as he half listened to Elena's story about her German presentation and thought about his own upcoming presentation for his English Lit class. He was deep in thought, so it wasn't surprising that when there was a sudden and large burst of sound he was startled. Suddenly more alert, his brow furrowed a bit as he turned to the left, the direction of the sound.  
  
It was a group of students waltzing into the cafeteria, loudly cheering. They were all helping in carrying another student, a spindly guy with messy hair, who was holding a trophy aloft and high in the air. They laughed raucously and loudly, cheering enthusiastically, _"We did it! We did it!"_ , as they walked.  
  
"What's all that about?", Arthur heard Leon ask.  
  
"Didn't you guys hear? Our robotics team won this year's national championship", Mithian explained as she swiped a cookie from an unbeknownst Elena.  
  
His friends were saying more things, but Arthur didn't catch anything else. Because he was totally enraptured by what his eyes were seeing, blue eyes intent on Merlin.  
  
The bloke was probably as tall as he was, although long-limbed and slight. A head of artfully messy dark hair the color of ink, with stupidly adorable round glasses that made him look like some cute online drawing of Harry Potter. If the Boy Who Lived was some gloriously precious angel, though.  
  
It was in that moment that Arthur's trip on the "I'm hopelessly in love with Merlin Emrys" ride began.  
  
Over the following months, his friends had all gotten close with Merlin, all of the idiots finding something in common with his previous crush. They had validated that Merlin, apart from being stunning, was also a really great guy. Smart, charming and funny, with a big heart and incredibly dedicated.  
  
As Arthur thought, perfection personified.  
  
Weeks after his evening spent grumbling about his utter lack of any poetic expression, Arthur found himself once more struggling to communicate with Merlin.  
  
Though, this time it was with his fingers dancing along his phone screen. Fingertips tapping along letters on the digital keyboard and then immediately erasing them and staring blankly at the screen. It would eventually fade to black from lack of activity.  
  
Just some hours earlier, as he had been with his mates at their usual table, Merlin had come up to him. Looking like a tumblr drawing with his endearingly crooked smile and his big blue cartoon-prince eyes, which obviously hadn't done well for Arthur, who was trying to keep a straight face as he spoke with him. Merlin had given him his phone number scrawled on a slip of paper after he had asked him out on Friday.  
  
It was probably the millionth time he was trying to come up with something good to start off their conversation, having already added Merlin to his contacts, attaching a blue heart emoji to his name. Blue eyes were staring a hole into his phone screen as he worried at his lower lip, unsure and hundreds of things were running through his mind.  
  
And then his phone gave a small buzz in his hand and he dropped it, letting out an uncharacteristic yelp.  
  
He felt like a teenage girl in her frilly bedroom in one of those saccharine romcoms Mithy watched. Legs gathered up to his chest and gazing at the phone like it was some foreign object that had manifested itself on his duvet. "This is stupid", he grunted out to himself as he shook his head and reached for the phone after about two or three minutes spent staring at it.  
  
Typing in his password and opening his messaging app he saw that Merlin had spread sent him a message.  
  
**_Merlin_**  
_hey! hope you're doing well, Arthur!_ , it read, accompanied by a quite random emoji of a bird head.  
  
Arthur stared blankly at the screen, unsure what he was to reply next. He quickly took a screenshot of it though, and he was about to start typing something when his phone buzzed gently again.  
  
**_Merlin_**  
_it's Merlin, by the way, sorry_ , it read, with a facepalm emoji attached.  
  
It made Arthur let out a small chuckle. His heart fluttered in his chest, even if he'd never admit to something as cheesy-sounding as that. He pondered as he looked at the screen, eventually settling on what to write and sending it.  
  
**_Arthur_**  
_I'm great, what about you?_  
  
It took a bit for Merlin to reply, and he hadn't seen Arthur's message, so the blond deemed it was a good enough time to tell his friends that it was happening. He was actually _talking_ to _Merlin_ , the guy of his dreams. Taking a quick screenshot of their small exchange, Arthur sent it to their group chat.  
  
The response was immediate.  
  
**_Princess Mithy of Genovia_**  
Yesssssss

**_Cheveux de Pantene_ **

_Ask him to marry you NOW_  
  
**_Papa Leon_**  
_Don't do what Gwaine just said_  
  
**_Lennybear_**  
_I second Gwaine's advice_  
  
He chuckled, leaning back against the headboard of the bed, eyes pulling away from the arriving messages from his friends when he saw another conversation move to the top of the screen. It was a message from Merlin, and it was a photo.  
  
Opening the conversation he instantly let out a small cooing sound that he would never admit to being able to create with his body. His eyes were trained intently on the picture Merlin had sent: it was him lying down, head resting on a pillow, black hair a spilling halo around his face. Round glasses slightly askew, a soft glow lighting the image and, what seemed to take up most of the picture, a Papillon dog that lay across Merlin's chest, it's head resting on his lily-white neck, seemingly dozed off.

  
  
**_Merlin_**  
_i'm trying to use my phone despite being taken prisoner by this fiend_  
  
**_Arthur_**  
_Can't say I really took in anything that you wrote, the dog's too cute_

  
  
Arthur found he was smiling widely when he sent that message. There was an airy feeling welling inside him, a fuzzy and fluttering warmth.

  
  
**_Merlin_**  
_cuter than me?_

  
  
It was that message that had Arthur's eyes bulging out and sputtering out as he sat up straighter. If he looked in a mirror he would find that his cheeks had colored an intense red shade, but he just looked at the phone screen, seeing Merlin's message and repeating in a droning hymn in his mind.  
  
Eventually, cheeks warm, he grabbed his phone and sent his reply

  
  
**_Arthur_**  
_Nobody's cuter than you_  
  
Merlin replied with a blushing emoji

**_Merlin_ **

_charming words, Mr. Pendragon_

**_Arthur_ **

_Mr. Pendragon is my fatheeeeer_

_And you look like a cartoon prince mixed with Harry Potter come to life, nobody can top that_

 

The moment he sent that his eyes widened impossibly. _Oh God,_ he thought, panicking, _Bloody hell, no, no, no!_

His mind had made that comparison for Merlin long ago, storing it in some corner of his mind, certainly deep enough that it shouldn't be coming out and embarrassing _just when Merlin started talking to him._ Arthur wanted his bed to collapse into itself and swallow him up, get lost in an alternate reality of sheets and blankets in which he didn't send that stupid text to Merlin. Everything had been going so **** _well,_ he thought, letting out a tiny whimpering sound.

He would've thought to delete the message, but the blue double-check marks revealed that Merlin had not only received the message, but he'd also read it. The message atop the screen read “typing…” and Arthur let out a pained whine, reaching for a pillow to cover his face with and hide in shame, preferably for all of the rest of his years.

The repeated buzzing of his phone signaling the arrival of multiple messages was the only thing that made him not completely wither away into an embarrassed ghost.

 

**_Merlin_ **

_never have I been complimented so beautifully in my life_

_you're too poetic with me, Arthur,_ with a blushing emoji

  _i giggled too much and now Kilgharrah is awake_

 

Letting out a deep and heavy breath he hadn't realized he was keeping in, Arthur let out a small laugh. Of course, Merlin wasn't holding his embarrassing words against him, he was too much of an amazing guy, Arthur mused.

A new picture arrived. Again of Merlin lying down, his hair ever a ruffled mess, fringe looking silky soft against his forehead, only this time the dog was awake. Head cocked towards the camera, the adorable canine had big and adorable eyes. _Like his owner,_ Arthur thought.

 

  ** _Arthur_**

_Tell him it's my fault you woke him_

 

And then, Arthur decided it would be only right to send Merlin a pic of himself too. So, after deciding that he didn't look too atrocious with the lighting from his open window, late afternoon periwinkle sunlight streaming in, he snapped a picture of himself, mouth in an exaggerated pout, looking as apologetic as could be. After pensively staring at the image for well over a minute, he breathed out a sigh and sent the picture.

He nibbled anxiously at his lower lip while he waits for some sort of response from Merlin. The guy of his fantasies saw the message nearly the moment after Arthur sent it, but was taking a bit to respond, prompting Arthur to, as was seeming to be something that would characterize his interactions with Merlin, over-analyze everything. _Maybe he didn't like the pic?_ Arthur wondered.

 

His phone buzzed though, so he unlocked it to see Merlin’s reply.

 

**_Merlin_ **

_sorry, was busy trying to regain my working vision after being blinded by your beauty_

_also, Killi is falling asleep again, so I'm gonna go ahead and guess he accepts your apology_

_p.s. blue looks insanely good on you_

 

At that final message, Arthur looked down at himself. He was wearing some random blue sweater that he'd slipped on when he'd changed from his school uniform. It wasn't particularly special, but _God,_ he was going to be wearing blue as often as he could now. His cheeks were ruddy from the “blinded by your beauty” part, and he let out a small chuckle to himself. Merlin had him feeling stupidly enamored.

 

**_Arthur_ **

_I think any color suits you perfectly_

_Hope that wasn't weird to say, ugh_ , accompanied by a facepalm emoji.

 

The blond hoped he wasn't being too stupid about everything, and the fluttering feeling of his heart in his chest wasn't doing much to help. He really did look like he was pulled straight from one of those teen, girly comedies that Mithy loved, absolutely besotted with teenage romance.

 

**_Merlin_ **

_i’m all for being complimented all day, don't worry about it_

_i’m feeling like one of those girls in those movies that's all freaked bc she's talking with a boy, hahaha_

_so don't even worry, Arthur ❤_

  
Maybe Arthur wasn't the best with words, he would be the first to say so. But it seemed that with Merlin he used the right ones. And that was good enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this work, thank you and feel free to leave kudos and comments! :)


End file.
